Judging

Carnival entries are awarded points as they travel along the route.

A very complex subject to be explained so briefly! The 70 plus Carnival Judges are placed along the whole route of the Carnival and each class has their own set of Judges. Judges are selected for their experience in judging such events and have to be scrupulously fair and judge on Presentation, Music, and General Effect, the build-up of the cart (points are awarded for the quality of workmanship and technical skills). Lighting - not only the amount of lighting but how effectively it is used. Even if a cart in the procession loses the power from its generator and has no lights and music it will still be judged on the remaining aspects.

In the Feature classes marks are awarded for the routine, appropriateness of the music, costume and makeup are also very important. In the Tableaux classes the same criteria for marks applies, except that the entrants have to stand in a pose with no movement so they resemble waxworks. In the Comic class humour is of the same importance as the rest of the entry.

The masqueraders in the walking classes are judged in a similar fashion for costume, make-up, ingenuity and the entertainment value (performing for the spectators).

The Judges line the mile and a half route and once their classes have gone past they return to the Judges hall with their score sheets. The scores are then checked and then entered into a computer and that is how the results are arrived at so quickly. Fortunately, gone are the days when the results were worked out manually, and double checked, by a team of volunteers! To make it even fairer, no judge knows in advance what class they will be judging.